Two charge sheets have been filed against 15 people in connection with the killing of Shiv Sena’s Punjab-based leaders Satpal Sharma and Durga Prasad Gupta by operatives of the terror group Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Sunday.
The chargesheets were filed in a special court in Mohali on Saturday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act, the agency said.
Sharma and his son Kumar, who were followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda, were killed on February 25 last year at the ‘Naam Charcha Ghar’ in Jageda area in Ludhiana, while Gupta was shot dead on April 23, 2016 in Khanna, also in Ludhiana.
The NIA said that during investigation, it was found that killings of Sharma, his son and Gupta were part of a trans-national conspiracy hatched by the senior leadership of the KLF.
“Eight incidents of killings or attempted killings were executed as part of this conspiracy between January, 2016 and October, 2017 in Punjab,” the agency said, adding that a chargesheet was filed in this connection earlier this month.
“The objective of the conspiracy was to destabilise the law and order situation in Punjab and to revive the fledgling terrorism in the State,” the NIA said.
Global conspiracy
The conspiracy had its foot-prints in several countries including Pakistan, the U.K., Australia, France, Italy and the UAE, the NIA said.
“As part of the conspiracy, large amounts of funds were supplied through Italy, Australia and the U.K. to the perpetrators of the killings, Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh.
“These funds were used by them to purchase weapons for executing the killings and other logistics,” it said. The conspiracy included recruitment and training of Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh in Italy, Dubai and the UAE, the agency said.
